Opposition Day — National Minimum Wage — 15 Oct 2014 at 15:51

The majority of MPs voted against setting targets to increase the minimum wage to £8 and to half the number of people on low pay by 2025.

The motion rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

That this House

notes that the value of the National Minimum Wage has been eroded since 2010 as working people have been hit by the cost-of-living crisis and are on average £1,600 a year worse off;

recognises that the fall in the real value of the minimum wage since 2010 is now costing the public purse £270 million a year in additional benefit and tax credit payments;

further notes that the Chancellor of the Exchequer cruelly misled working people by saying he wanted to see a minimum wage of £7 while the Government has no plans to reach this goal;

calls on the Government to set an ambitious target for the National Minimum Wage to significantly increase to 58 per cent of median average earnings, putting it on course to reach £8 before the end of the next Parliament;

supports action to help and encourage more firms to pay a living wage through “make work pay” contracts to boost living standards and restore the link between hard work and fair pay so that everyone shares in the UK’s wealth, not just a few at the top; and

further calls on the Government to set a national goal of halving the number of people on low pay by 2025.

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